New Delhi, September 21, 2026 – The trade agreement between India and New Zealand will come into effect next month. The announcement in this regard was made by the Commerce Minister today. According to the report, a big and historic news has come for the Indian economy and exporters in the festive season.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had announced on Monday that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and New Zealand will come into effect from October 20, 2026 i.e. the auspicious day of Vijayadashami (Dashera). The final date of this historic agreement was sealed with New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay during a virtual press conference in New Delhi.
The most important thing about this free trade agreement is that now no custom duty will be imposed on 100% of the goods sent from India to New Zealand. Earlier, there was a heavy tariff of up to 10% on Indian goods like cars, auto components, carpets, ceramics and textiles in New Zealand. Now from October 20, this tax will be completely abolished, due to which Indian cars, auto parts and traditional industries will become much cheaper in New Zealand markets.
20th October, 2026.
A new chapter unlocks in the India-New Zealand economic partnership. 🇮🇳🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/JuDTnDyDCP
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 21, 2026
Bilateral trade target of ₹35,000 crore
Union Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the purpose of this historic deal is to increase the total trade in goods and services between the two countries to about 4 billion dollars i.e. ₹ 35,000 crore in the next 4 to 5 years. It is noteworthy that in July 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a historic visit to New Zealand, which was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister in the last four decades. This visit served to finalize the negotiations and provide strong political momentum to the relations between the two countries.
New Zealand's Prime Minister also expressed enthusiasm
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Lux welcomed this agreement and said that his government has fulfilled the promise made during its first term of making a free trade deal with India. According to statistics, bilateral trade between India and New Zealand is expected to increase from $873 million in 2023-24 to $1.3 billion in 2024-25, registering a healthy growth of 49%. This agreement, which is going to come into effect from Dussehra, will not only give new heights to the Indian textile, pharma and IT sectors, but will also create lakhs of new employment opportunities in the country.